


Once Bitten and Twice Shy

by Revenna



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Reaper76 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-09 13:38:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10413408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revenna/pseuds/Revenna
Summary: Soldier 76 tries to lead a normal life after the loss of a lover and a friend by leaving Jack Morrison in the past with their relationship. But even the emotionless Soldier dreams, and not everything is as easy to drop as a badge.





	1. The Soldiers

**Author's Note:**

> To Self: Do NOT post fanfiction when intoxicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhhhheeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy.   
> Sometimes you just gotta abandon a fanfic for two years and then reread it out of curiosity and realize "ah, well that's a frustrating way to leave a storyline maybe I should fix that"
> 
> Anyway. Expect an update soon.

_There was the loud crackle of gunshots as the cobblestone around him erupted in clouds of dust, bullets whistling as they bounced off and sang through the air around him. Sergeant Morrison was tucked into himself in a tight squat, his back to the pile of rubble that served as his only shield against the oncoming shower of bullets. Next to him, a private clutched his gun to his chest, brown eyes glimmering with tears that he struggled to contain. He looked to Jack, terrified, awaiting orders._ __  
__  
_Private Owens was a good soldier, always following his duty. But Jack had nothing to supply him with. No brilliant escape methods, no witty plans for a distraction. No way out, no tactics left, no tricks up his sleeve. And here was a soldier, separated from his platoon with nothing but a man five years his senior to guide him out of the jaws of death._ __  
__  
_The omnics had shown up in Eichenwald without warning. Morrison and Lieutenant Reyes had each taken a separate team of 25 soldiers down separate routes to outflank the machines, but somehow they had learned of it and scattered the entire platoon. Some of the omnics were marching around the back streets hunting stragglers, but almost six of them were stationed just on the other side of the pile of rubble, less than one hundred feet away from the pitiful trench. They sat, silent except for the occasional spray of bullets, folded into sentry mode, waiting patiently like vultures for their prey to finally be smoked out of their den. Morrison could only hope to god that most of his men had grouped up somewhere else for evacuation. He tapped the comm on his shoulder to receive a series of panicked requests for backup, all garbled by static._ __  
__  
_"Grouped up... Coordinates... Sergeant? Lieutenant?... No sign of Rivera... Three soldiers MIA... Sergeant Morrison, come in, Seargeant!"_ __  
__  
_A cold stone dropped in Jack's stomach, and he turned to look at Private Owens, still awaiting orders. Slowly, solemnly, he shook his head, and the last bit of hope in the Private's eyes was snuffed out like a candle light. His face fell. Jack tapped his comm again._ __  
__  
_"Sergeant Morrison checking in."_ __  
__  
_"Thank God!... Sergeant, awaiting orders... what is your location?... Lieutenant Reyes... No response."_ __  
__  
_As if Morrison couldn't get any more sober._ __  
__  
_"Private," he interjected._ __  
__  
_"Yes sir?"_ __  
__  
_"Send out an emergency beacon. How many are with you?"_ __  
__  
_"Thirty-two, sir. What is your location?"_ __  
__  
_Jack cast another somber look at Owens._ __  
__  
_"Send the beacon," he repeated. "Remain indoors until the airship arrives. Inform Major Howell that Private Owens and I are lost behind enemy lines. Find Lieutenant Reyes if you possibly can, but get yourselves to safety."_ __  
__  
_"Sergeant-"_ __  
__  
_"Do it!" Morrison yelled into the comm, then threw it from his ear and stamped it into the ground. He had heard stories of omnics tracing down beacon signals through the comms of fallen soldiers._ __  
__  
_Suddenly, a cry rang out through the gunfire, too youthful and panicked to belong to a soldier. Jack looked over at Owens to find him gazing off to the side. Jack followed his mortified gaze into the open doorway of a nearby building, where a tiny face leaned out into the open, tears dribbling from its two blue eyes._ __  
__  
_Jack could have killed six Bastion units in his fury just then. The civilians were supposed to be evacuated hours ago. Eichenwald had become a ghost town in a matter of hours after receiving news of a nearby omnic raid. Surely no one was foolish enough to stay behind, let alone leave their child here._ __  
__  
_Morrison watched silently as Owens lifted his finger to his lips to shush the little boy, who sat quivering in his shelter. The gunfire had suspiciously ceased. Now the only sound was that of the eerie wind and an occasional sound like an omnic footstep, so distant that it was difficult to tell whether or not they actually heard it._ __  
__  
_"M... Meine Mutter," he whimpered, and Owens's shoulders fell._ __  
__  
_"What? What did he say?" Jack hissed._ __  
__  
_"'My mom," Owens replied, looking like he, too, was about to curl up and start sniveling._ __  
__  
_Him and the child swapped a few more words in German._ __  
__  
_"They were in the countryside when the omnics showed up. His mother sent him south and told him to come to us."_ __  
__  
_"Where is she now?"_ __  
__  
_Owens glanced over and asked the little boy a question, but only managed to make him cry._ __  
__  
_"Owens," Jack warned quietly._ __  
__  
_"I only asked him where his mother was!" Owens insisted, and Jack jolted, smacking a hand over the Private's mouth._ __  
__  
_"Shh!" he urged, flinching when a tiny spray of bullets pepper the ground next to him._ __  
__  
_They both froze, a cold chill keeping them in place. Jack had to force himself to swallow. None of them could speak. Not one word. If they were lucky, the report was correct in that they were all bastion units. Most other models were equipped with infra-sight. Slowly, he let his hand come back away from Private Owens's face, allowing the other man to look back to the little boy, who shook silently in the dark of the building, face tucked into the safety of his knees._ __  
__  
_Without warning, Private Owens tumbled away._ __  
__  
_"Daniel!" Jack shouted, a thousand seconds too late. Private Owens dove towards the building, arms outstretched so he could snatch up the child and make a run for it._ __  
__  
_Daniel had always been fast, even in bootcamp. But now he showed a speed that could only be inspired by the kind of mortal danger a bastion unit posed._ __  
__  
_But it was not fast enough. There was a morbidly enthusiastic whistle, and time slowed. Suddenly, there was no speed, strength, agility, no plan nor prayer that could save him. There was a crack, and the asphalt exploded in a geyser of beige dust that spewed from the brilliant red light that bloomed behind Owens, sending his limp body soaring forward like a ragdoll. The child did not bother trying to cover his anguished, terrified screams._ __  
__  
_Without giving thought to a fallback plan, Jack charged out. The Bastion units were coming. His fortress of rubble would only preserve his life for a few more precious minutes anyway._ __  
__  
_His feet carried him over the cobblestone faster than the wind itself. There was another crack, and the ground beneath him shuddered as a wave of heat touched his back. It sent him stumbling, but in sudden appreciation of his life, he somehow managed to catch himself._ __  
_There was no time for formality. There would be a time later that he would be haunted by the sight of Private Daniel Owens, lying face-down with blood pooling out where his flesh wasn't scorched into cauterization. The day would come when Jack Morrison would lie awake at night, staring at his ceiling fan and thinking about the number 76 stitched cleanly onto the breast of the other soldier's jacket. But that day could wait. For that to happen, Morrison had to first make it out alive._ __  
__  
_So he showed no formality in throwing the gory remains of his soldier aside, off the screaming child. He didn't bother being gentle when he snatched the boy by the arm and practically yanked him into the air. And he certainly didn't pay any mind to the Bastion unit's angry whirring behind him. The gate was footsteps away. He needed just one second, one tiny hair of time to get into that bottleneck so they could tuck around a corner. Half a second. A quarter. He was almost there._ __  
__  
_The skin on his back blazed, and everything caught fire. His arms wrapped tightly around something bony, and he clutched it tightly. It was screaming, but so was he. Still, he heard nothing but a deafening ring in his ears. Eichenwald spun around him like a kaleidoscope of orange and yellow and eventually black as the fire vanished to smoke. Distantly, he thought he heard Gabriel._ __  
__  
_"Jack!"_  
  
  
  
76 woke up to an unbearable pain in his chest that spread like lightning down into his arm. His back arched and for one brief second of terror, he was sure he was back in Eichenwald. But when he opened his eyes, all he saw was the dizzying spin of his walls around him. His fingers clutched at the skin on his chest like if he held tight enough, his heart would be unable to seize up anymore.  
  
He sucked in a miniscule breath of air and thrashed himself onto the floor beside his bed. He hit the carpet with a thud that knocked the breath out of him.  
  
Panic clouded him as he writhed around on the floor, fingernails snagging in the carpet as he clawed and smacked at the ground, desperately trying to get a breath big enough to satisfy the ache in his breast that strangled the air out of him.

He couldn’t feel his arm anymore. The blaze of electricity had grown into a cold sensation of numbness.

 _Concentrate!_ Soldier commanded himself mentally and with the angry shove of his functional arm, flipped onto his stomach so he could zero in on his medicine cabinet across the room. It taunted him from its position halfway up the wall, too high for him to realistically reach in this state. He tried to move towards it, but the pain stunned him, and he found himself breathless again. His own weight crushed the air out of him now that he was on his stomach, his ribs clenched so tight that it felt like they were clamping him to the ground.  
  
Soldier felt his head start to spin wildly, black and blue and violet spots of ink covering his vision, and he wheezed quietly as his chest lit up with fire again. Finally, his violent struggle to move allowed his unaffected arm to lash out and send his nightstand toppling onto the ground. His comm buzzed quizically at him and he hissed at it, willing it to come to him.  
  
Luckily, it was already on.  
  
"Jack?"  
  
Angela's voice crackled out quietly from the little device, and he pounded his fist on the ground, violently willing his lungs to let him speak.  
  
"Jack, is everything alright? It's late, why is your comm on?"  
  
Finally, he managed to force out an ugly choking noise like that of a cat retching something up, and then his chest locked again, displeased with his waste of precious breath. He sucked in loudly.  
  
"Jack?! Hang in there, I'm sending an ER bot to your room. Focus on your breathing, it'll just be a second."  
  
The room was eerily silent for what seemed like an eternity, leaving Jack to watch as vision failed him and his heart started to clench like it was trying to squeeze itself to the point of popping. Suddenly, his door shot open and an omnic whirred in, a stretcher clamped between its claw-like hands. It scooped him up as easily as if he was a child, and then sped off down the hall.  
  
76's veins felt like they were on fire. His heart pumped lava, not blood, and suddenly, the pain struck again. This time, it stunned him completely. He felt his chest explode, and would have cried out, but just then, everything stopped. His fingers went first, and then his limbs. In a matter of seconds, Jack Morrison fell away from reality, watching from a thousand miles away as a bright light came into his vision and above him, an angel. Her mouth moved like she was shouting. And then, the light flickered away like a flame in the dark, and all was black. 

  



	2. Chapter 2

_They were in Russia._

_Snow stormed down around them, wind howling loudly beyond the crumbling walls of an old shack. Inside, soldiers huddled quietly, some tucked into corners and other huddled together against the walls to shelter from the wind. All was quiet except for the weather and a few hushed conversations carried by the most hopeful. In the center of the room, a tiny little device reminiscent of an old radio emitted a red light that faded in and out in perfect time with quiet beeps._

_Eichenwald had been a learning experience. This part of the countryside was worryingly close to an old omnium, and omnics had been reported strolling around looking for trouble, so Morrison's platoon had been sent to properly evacuate the area. That was before the weather went awry and blotted out in white everything that wasn't within arm's reach._

_A piece of shrapnel was curling out of Gabriel's knee cap like an antler. He had tried to remedy this by using his jacket as a tourniquet, but out here, every fiber was another minute slapped onto your life span. So Jack wandered over and sat on his lap, one leg on either side as he faced the other man. He held his jacket outstretched over the both of them and rested his head on the wall over Gabe's shoulder._

_"Do you want to do this now?" Gabriel growled ~~in that deep, gritty voice of his~~  but it was warped with a degree of forced lust. It still had Jack shivering from something besides the cold. _

_"Gabe, this is serious. Don't joke," He said, wishing he would stop flirting for half a second. Maybe give Jack a break for once, let him spend three minutes without having to remind himself not to get soft because of Gabe's stupid eyes and his stupid handsome face and his stupid comments._

_Seriously, fuck this guy._

_"I'm not joking, Corino," he said, and Jack grit his teeth. Gabe had been flirting with him since the day they joined the enhanced soldier program. At first, it was subtle enough to dismiss as just a cocksure and very subtle disregard of personal boundaries for the sake of humor. But over time, as Jack got to know him, he eventually realized that Gabe was the only one he talked to like that. Even if Gabe was just kidding, he never went out of his way to be around anyone but Jack._

_"But you're right. Another time."_

_Jack did his best to ignore him and not ask questions. As he long as he didn't know whether or not Gabriel was joking, he could pretend the other man was sincere. It was one of those nice thoughts that staved off the growing presence of anxious thoughts that had become more and more commonplace since his enlistment in the military program. It wasn't perfect, but it was alright._

_He popped the cap off a bottle of alcohol he kept in his pack, but at the sight of it, Gabe practically hissed, and recoiled like an angry cat._

_"Let me sanitize it," Jack growled impatiently._

_"It's not that bad."_

_"It is exactly that bad. Hold still."_

_Gabriel put his hand on Jack's shoulders and threatened to shove him off until Morrison reluctantly set the bottle aside and crossed his arms._

_Gabe let out a weak chuckle._

_“Don’t pout at me, Sergeant.”_

_Jack leaned down until he was eye-level with Gabe, who slumped lazily against the wall. He would insist that his ribs were fine, but he was obviously favoring one side, and he wouldn’t move no matter how awkward his position became against the wall._

_“Then quit fucking with me, Lieutenant,” Jack growled._

_Gabe apparently took that as a challenge. He pulled Jack down until their faces were inches apart, and the white plumes of Gabe’s breathe grazed against Jack’s cheek._

_“I don’t play games, Sergeant. I’m going to have to ask_ you _to quit fucking with_ me _.”_

_Jack felt his heart skip a beat. Maybe two- he always had a bad heart, a problem they promised they would fix when he joined the enhanced soldier program, but had thus far failed to provide for, except a small bottle of pills that staved it off. Jack blinked at him bemusedly. There was no sign of insincerity on Lieutenant’s features. Nothing to say he wasn’t being totally serious._

_Jack dared to walk himself through the next few minutes in his mind. Maybe he would take Gabe up on the implied offer of a kiss. One of two things could happen. Either Gabe would admit that he was, in fact, fucking with him, and things would never be the same, or Jack would find out that he really wasn’t… and things would never be the same._

_And if he was being honest, it’s not like he had been ignoring the flask of whiskey on his thigh before he tried to pour it on Gabe. He wasn’t inebriated, per say- just a bit warm. So when Gabe’s eyelids fluttered in anticipation, the only real forethought that prevailed was “fuck it.”_

_Morrison shielded them from sight with his jacket and tilted his head slightly so their lips fit together like puzzle pieces. Gabe’s were chapped- of course they were chapped, it was below zero- but warm, and Jack felt the other man’s mouth stretch in a smile before he began returning the favor. Even in the biting wind of the blizzard, Jack could imagine that there was a great deal of warmth where they met. Jack had initiated it as a gentle peck, but Gabe now seemed intent on stealing his soul through his parted lips. Suddenly, the Lieutenant broke off and let out a distressed shout._

_“_ _Ohhhhhhhhhhh! Ohhh you bastard. Motherfuck. Augh_. _”_

_Jack smirked down at him and set the alcohol aside now that brown whiskey stained Gabe's white camouflage pants._

_"What? What's so funny?" The Lieutenant demanded, his dark features twisted in a glower._

_Jack chuckled quietly, then pressed his mouth to the corner of Gabe's lips in consolation.  
_

_"You're such a fucking baby."_

_Gabe muttered something disagreeable in Spanish, then returned the kiss with a begrudging hum of appreciation. It send waves of raw feeling through his limbs, as if the very touch of their skin could block the cold and fill him with vitality. If this was going to become commonplace, Jack could get used to the never-ending remarks._

_"Gabe," he murmured when they broke away. "Is this... How do you feel about me?"_

_That made Gabriel chuckle, long ~~and deep~~ and smooth. Jack sneered at him- he hadn't meant it to be a joke- until he felt a pair of cold hands cup his cheeks and a thumb stroke his temple. Gabe's voice was an  ~~deep,~~ affectionate, and gentle murmur._

_"I love you, Pendejo."_

Soldier's chest seized upwards in a spasm of electricity that singed two ovals on each of his breast. His mouth gaped wide and his eyes snapped open as the white and yellow world danced around him and he sucked in air until the ache in his lungs subsided.

For one brief, horrifying moment, everything was silent. And then his heartbeat returned and pounded against his ribs until he thought they would break. The spiraling colors settled in place. He was in the emergency unit with Angela straddling his waist, holding defibrillators in her hands. Her face looked gaunt in this light, her eyes tired but fierce and her hair mussed up like a rat's nest. In a slow trickle, he started to remember that he had woken her up at a stupid hour of the night.

A straight man might have enjoyed the situation at least a little bit more.

 "Sssssss," he spluttered. His mouth would not form words. He ran his tongue across his teeth and tried again. "S-orry."

Angela let out a sigh of relief and set the defibrillators down to clutch her chest and climb off of him. 

"Follow my finger," she commanded, and held up her index finger. He watched it drift from his left side back to the right. Seemingly pleased, Angie snatched up a weird looking instrument, which lit up brightly at her touch, and shone it into his eyes. He tried to clamp them shut to keep out the blinding light, but she pried one open long enough to get whatever she needed from her medieval torture methods. With a finalizing sigh, Angela set her instruments down and folded her arms. "Do you know what your name is?" 

"Solldierrr seventy-six," he slurred, lifting a hand to rub his cheek. 

"Um. Okay, what about the old one?"

"Jack Morrison," he grumbled. 

"Good. Do you know what today is?" 

"Uhh. The eighth? Ninth? Eleventh? Whatever. It's Friday."

"What month?" Angie pressed. 

"August," he replied. 

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

Angela nodded approvingly, and for a moment she looked serene- and then it melted away into a hot anger, and Jack shrank into himself to avoid the desolation soon to come. 

" _Mein Gott_ , Jack! You absolute idiot! You have not been taking your medicine! Have you?!" Jack bit his tongue.

" _Have you?!_ " she repeated, and he shook his head. "I did not prescribe you warfarin for my own amusement! I did it to keep you alive! Do you want to  _die,_ Jack?! Because that's what's going to happen!"

76 stayed silent and looked away, his usual scowl returning to him. Angela said nothing at first, then sighed. "It was a dream again, yes?"

"Yes." 

"Would you like to talk about it?" She asked, and he glared up at her. She sniffed. "Fine. But you can not live like this, Jack Morrison. One of these days, Gabe is going to kill you, whether it is in battle or right there in your sleep."

Heat rose into his cheeks at the mention of that old bastard, and his glare sharpened. 

"What makes you think it had anything to do with Reyes?" 

"You can hide a lot from people, Jack. But even an idiot could see that he still haunts you." 

76 sneered and pushed himself off the bed. The world jerked around a bit, threatening to throw him off balance, but he steadied himself on a post and forced himself to stand up straight before stalking off. 

Gabriel Reyes would not be the death of him. Gabriel Reyes was dead, and soon Reaper would have to follow. 

Only then could he sleep at night. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lil bit a smut. Tiny bit. Four lines.

_Jack covered his mouth and closed his eyes, swallowing back the urge to moan. Even with Gabe's mouth wrapped around him, he had to be quiet. Even if it was the middle of the night and they were alone in the locker rooms and Gabe had turned on a hot shower to cover up the noise they made. He could not make a sound._

_Gabe rolled his tongue upwards, and that rule was forgotten._

 

Soldier 76 awoke in a cold sweat. His heartbeat was fluttering again and his breath was heavy and despite himself, he was hard. With an angry grunt, he threw the sheets off of himself and raged towards the bathroom. 

Gabriel Reyes is dead. 

Gabriel Reyes is dead. 

Gabriel Reyes is dead. 

He said it again and again. He told himself, but he still wouldn't let go. He could pry the memory of Gabe from his own cold, dead hands, but not a moment sooner. Gabriel Reyes is dead. 

But the ghost of warm lips against Jack's lived on. The imagined sensation of a warm hand guiding him into climax was not yet dead. There were many things Soldier 76 hated about the past, but the biggest one, by far, was the fact that it would not leave him the fuck alone. He wanted to forget. He wanted to live in the present and maybe even look forward to the future, and he wanted to never again have to relive another intimate moment with that son of a bitch. 

With more force than was necessary, he yanked the handle and threw the shower on so that the water was right on the border of actually being cold, and he sat down on the porcelain. 

Gabriel Reyes is dead. 

 

He had no way of measuring time, but he stayed in the shower until golden light leaked in through the window and the tears had left him with a headache. 

Breakfast was an informal affair. Jack flopped down at the table, threw up a hologram of recent news and tried his best to ignore the flirting going on between Jesse and Hanzo. The boy had not gained any decency under the strict eye of he-who-shall-not-be-named. If anything, he had picked up some of the old Lieutenant's brazenness. As far as Jack was concerned, he was still a snot-nosed little brat. 

No. He told himself that, but it wasn't true. Jesse had always been a little shit and probably always would until the day he died, but Jack couldn't deny that the boy was like a son to him. 

Yes. The boy. The 37-year-old boy. There was no better description of McCree.

The two grown-ass men sat at their end of the table quietly bickering over table etiquette. Hanzo snatched Jesse's hat and pointedly hung it on the back of the chair, leaving the other man to stare at him with most soulful, pitiful gaze that had ever been executed by any creature. Unsurprisingly, it was back on his head moments later and his hands were fondling Hanzo's hair ribbon.

He suppressed a gag. They were still so unbearably naive, falling in love in their line of work. How could they just ignore the possibility of failure? 

_That's hypocritical._

_Go fuck yourself._  

Had his internal monologue always been so argumentative? 

Just then, Athena's voice popped up on the intercom. 

"Hanzo Shimada, Jesse McCree, Lena Oxton, Genji Shimada, Jack Morrison, Zenyatta, and Jamison Fawkes to Conference Room 12B."

Jack dropped his bagel with an irritable sigh. From somewhere in the back of the cafeteria, Junkrat's voice called out. 

"HAH?!" 

"Hanzo Shimada, Jesse McCree, Lena Oxton, Genji Shimada, Jack Morrison, Zenyatta, and Jamison Fawkes to Conference Room 12B."

Now that kid was an anomaly. Soldier 76 was absolutely sure he was going deaf, but the junker would never admit to it. He had seen people bring it up to him only to be dismissed with a short "Ah, I can hear ya just fine, mate!" 

He growled disagreeably and snapped his visor back on to hide the ugly scarring around his mouth and nose. Jamison's well-being was not his problem. Let somebody else worry for once. 

The conference room was so close, Soldier was almost annoyed that Winston didn't just lean over the railing and call down for them. He stood up from the lunch table, scaled the stairs, and sat down in one of the swivel chairs to stare out at the sea. The sun shone dimly against the sea from behind a grey sheet of clouds, and wind tossed around what little foliage there was around the base outside. Pity. If they had been called for a mission, it meant they would all probably miss the first proper storm Gibraltar had seen in weeks. 

Everyone was in the conference room in a matter of minutes. Jamison, of course, was last to arrive because he had to go fetch his companion to literally carry him up the stairs, bitching and complaining the entire way up about ableism. He actually made a lot of good arguments on his ascent, all of which Soldier made a note to bring up again to Winston. 

The gorilla arrived a few minutes later, a clipboard in hand. 

"Right," he said, setting his shoulders back, "Thank you all for coming on such short notice! I assume we all remember the incident in Volskaya?" 

There was a hum of agreement around the conference room. Junkrat, however, silently raised his hand, and Winston pursed his lips at the collective sigh. 

"Right. Well, the gist of it is that Talon tried to assassinate the CEO. They were unsuccessful, but we have reason to think they're at it again, and I'd like to be there this time to prevent it." 

76 felt something harden in his chest, and suddenly, he felt... cold. It was a soldier's duty to disregard personal matters for the sake of a mission, goddamn it. He straightened himself out and set his shoulders back, watching as Winston pulled up an overhead map of Volskaya and began the debriefing. 

 

/~/~/

 

White snowflakes danced silently through the air in a rapid waltz, spinning and twirling until they hit the sea of ivory that carpeted the ground. All was silent in the odd way that frigid weather usually was. The only ambiance was the imperceptible groan of the ice sheets as they migrated over the sea.

It reminded him of a snow storm that happened seemingly centuries ago- one that he had spent lying against a wall, listening to the repetitive beep of an emergency beacon. 

Out in the distance, just across the bay, a factory belched pale smoke into the air. Inside lay nothing but prey. Hundreds of tiny people with tiny minds doing tiny jobs. Pitiful ants with no minds of their own. But he was not here for them. 

If everything went according to plan, his real targets would be here by tomorrow. The very thought made his face twist into a wicked grin beneath his mask. He crossed his hands over his chest and felt his body begin to dissipate into fog, a dark chuckle in his throat. 

_"I'm coming for you, Jack."_


End file.
